Is Britsmoothy MIA?

[GREENSWLDE]

So sorry to hear that you Jess have left. Always looked forward to your letters, photo's and the various minor spat's between you, me and FW. .. Have never known if you are an MLAGB member but would be nice to meet you and Jess, possibly at Yeaveley in June. I don't get to Swad much these days owing to the fall. Shoulder dosn't allow Mounting or Recoil. That is age and Covid willing. Take care, Stay well.. OLD DOG..

 

[jdw276]

New to this forum, relatively speaking, and if possible will have to take the time to see if I can find the gentleman’s past post, the few I’ve seen in the last four months were interesting.
He indicated the problem was at least one user harassing him in these pages but I also got the impression it was thru other outlets in the UK also.
At any rate I’m reminded of a childhood chant often heard in school yards. “Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”. Perhaps only true for bullies and trollers but perhaps there’s more, deeper than printed words on an open forum.

Unfortunately over there words will get you thrown in jail after an unannounced knock the door down visit. They do not play by rules we understand over here. Shame......

 

[smoothshooter]

If you recall, Brit said that the person was in-country, and he reported Brit to authorities for certain hunting-related activities. I don't know the details, but he said it was turning him (Brit) into an internet person that he did not want to be, so he left the forum.
And we are the weaker for it.
And I miss Jess.

I remember the situation with one of his “ concerned “ fellow citizens.
I was wondering if it was something like that.

 

[SOLANCO]

Thanks for the update I was wondering the same thing. Sorry to see him go. Most of the members are fine but there are a few very bad apples. I have thought about leaving also or putting a few in the lockbox. I personally think that a few should be suspended and banned like some other sites do. There is no deterrent right now for their bad behavior.

Trolls thrive on attention and wither away if ignored.

 

[Whughett]

If you recall, Brit said that the person was in-country, and he reported Brit to authorities for certain hunting-related activities. I don't know the details, but he said it was turning him (Brit) into an internet person that he did not want to be, so he left the forum.
And we are the weaker for it.
And I miss Jess.

I think in the UK game animals and birds belong to the land owner, unlike here where game is owned by the state they are in.
I got the impression Brit was not a land owner so perhaps restricted to public hunting areas, if those areas abutted private property conflict could well arise.
Or perhaps some irate land owner thinks any game crossing over into public lands was still theirs. Just wild guesses here.

 

[MDHunter]

I’ll miss his posts. Always honest information from his experiences. Can’t ask for more than that.

 

[TFoley]

Unfortunately over there words will get you thrown in jail after an unannounced knock the door down visit. They do not play by rules we understand over here. Shame......

The UK is not yet nazi Germany. Unless you have been suspected of some heinous crime - like using your firearms to shoot a person - you will NEVER have an unannounced knock down the door visit - a commonplace occurrence in the USA, from what one reads, hears and sees. The police have to have 'reasoned grounds and suspicions' to even come to your door and ask to enter. You can refuse them entry until they come back with a search warrant.

I have no idea what happened to Britsmoothy, a poster for whom I only ever had the highest regard for his interesting shooting activities - ALL of which are completely within the current legislation here in UK.

However, all it takes is some numbnutz, devoid of knowledge of UK gun law, to tell the police that Britsmoothy was operating outside the law for the antennas to go up, and see what is actually going on. I'm not going to get embroiled in explaining UK gun laws here, except to say that no post here EVER infringed the UK's draconian gun laws.

 

[TFoley]

Whughett, you wrote - I think in the UK game animals and birds belong to the land owner, unlike here where game is owned by the state they are in.

True.

I got the impression Brit was not a land owner so perhaps restricted to public hunting areas.

There are NO public hunting areas in UK - somebody or some organisation owns it all. In order to shoot on a property, the shooter must have written permission to do so, called, oddly enough, a 'permission'. Only if the property owner requests the shooter to operate on his land as either a paying guest shooter or employed game manager.game warden/game keeper, does the shooter have carte blanche to shoot on that land. In rural areas, many landowners temporarily employ people like simon6ppc [see him on YouTube - for animal protection during lambing or calving periods. Others may employ carefully-selected shooters to cull deer on their property in response to the ever-growing deer population [thanks to the tree-huggers] ruining plantations of managed trees.

 

[hanshi]

It certainly does happen on this and other forums. Far too many ignorant jerks have to criticize other members in order to feel superior. Nathan was a great source of information and excellent photos. But I guess he was forced to leave because he had his own (successful) way to do things that made the trolls jealous. Shame.

 

[Rawhide67]

I don't know who the troll was, but there seems no shortage of them. I enjoyed Brits photos and stories. It's a shame he couldn't find a different resolution.

 

[Whughett]

Whughett, you wrote - I think in the UK game animals and birds belong to the land owner, unlike here where game is owned by the state they are in.

True.

I got the impression Brit was not a land owner so perhaps restricted to public hunting areas.

There are NO public hunting areas in UK - somebody or some organisation owns it all. In order to shoot on a property, the shooter must have written permission to do so, called, oddly enough, a 'permission'. Only if the property owner requests the shooter to operate on his land as either a paying guest shooter or employed game manager.game warden/game keeper, does the shooter have carte blanche to shoot on that land. In rural areas, many landowners temporarily employ people like simon6ppc [see him on YouTube - for animal protection during lambing or calving periods. Others may employ carefully-selected shooters to cull deer on their property in response to the ever-growing deer population [thanks to the tree-huggers] ruining plantations of managed trees.

Thank you sir. Glad my ancestors decided to leave there early in 18th century and settle here.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

The title says it all: Nathan are you OK?

I hope he is OK, he was a hoot! I sent him a PM the day he said good bye and did n Pretty sure he was gone by the time I sent it.
Larry

 

[jdw276]

The UK is not yet nazi Germany. Unless you have been suspected of some heinous crime - like using your firearms to shoot a person - you will NEVER have an unannounced knock down the door visit - a commonplace occurrence in the USA, from what one reads, hears and sees. The police have to have 'reasoned grounds and suspicions' to even come to your door and ask to enter. You can refuse them entry until they come back with a search warrant.

I have no idea what happened to Britsmoothy, a poster for whom I only ever had the highest regard for his interesting shooting activities - ALL of which are completely within the current legislation here in UK.

However, all it takes is some numbnutz, devoid of knowledge of UK gun law, to tell the police that Britsmoothy was operating outside the law for the antennas to go up, and see what is actually going on. I'm not going to get embroiled in explaining UK gun laws here, except to say that no post here EVER infringed the UK's draconian gun laws.

Totally understand. We have to have probable cause here to come to a home, but then places have what they call a no knock warrant. Basically knock the door down with probable cause to keep em from flushing stuff down the commode or shooting back first. What makes the news here a lot is they go to the wrong address, no knock, bust the door in, homeowner thinks its an invasion and starts protecting themselves. Does not end well for either side.

Regardless of why, brits was a welcome breath of air to read and interact with just as yourself. Be safe and healthy please.

 

[bud in pa]

This is a sad day for us. Going to miss the hunting stories and pictures of Jess. Brit keep enjoying yourself and give Jess a belly rub for me.

 

[dave61965]

If I recall correctly the incident that involved the authorities was regarding a single projectile being fired from a muzzleloader or something to that matter, it’s possibly not allowed, cannot say for sure one way or another, but the person, “troll” read about it here, claimed he broke the rules and took it upon himself to go to the trouble to contact the authorities about it, maybe trying to cause trouble because of the arguments back and forth on here.

 

[Gordoncourtney]

What Britsmoothy gone ????). For a number of years I emailed every day with Hal ( ulfere ) on British military forums. He had a 577/500 no2 exactly as mine. We were having a conversation about a Wesley Richards martini with a rotten bore and he could not hit a 2 ft square at 100 yards I suggested get a bigger target which he took with great humer then he was gone, And he’s not commenting on his other sites he contributed too. I miss him so much , I get upset at times. He was a great guy 47 and I don’t know what happened to him and his wife , it’s very upsetting May he test in peace I assume the worst. I live in hope , he was in a town in northern Alibama little crime there as all the grannies carried a pistol in their purse ,robbers terrified of them
Ha ha. They did not mess around just bang band he’s brown bread ? Did a better job than the cops Love from our green and pleasant land

 

[Feltwad]

Wonder what was the main reason that he left the forums
Feltwad

 

[winchester1873]

MIA Missing in action, has removed himself from the site.

I also hated to see Brit go, I wish he would have just used the lockbox (Ignore button) to stop from reading the drivel.

I have locked up
The drunk, contributed nothing and posts became incoherent later in the evening.
Snarky, contributed nothing and thought his snark was humorous but it was only tiring.
The nitwit, political views were so unhinged from reality that he must live under a rock.
The genius, contributed nothing, posted eight paragraphs of word salad in an effort to appear as the smartest guy in the room.

Use the lockbox and let us enjoy your contributions, don't go away.

Who is this clown?

 

[Colonial Boy]

I’ll miss his posts. Always honest information from his experiences. Can’t ask for more than that.

Amen to that.

 

[TFoley]

If I recall correctly the incident that involved the authorities was regarding a single projectile being fired from a muzzleloader or something to that matter, it’s possibly not allowed, cannot say for sure one way or another, but the person, “troll” read about it here, claimed he broke the rules and took it upon himself to go to the trouble to contact the authorities about it, maybe trying to cause trouble because of the arguments back and forth on here.

In UK firearms law, the limitations are clearly defined with regard to shooting a single projectile from a smooth-bore, single-shot. muzzleloading firearm. You may do so without any breaking of the law, provided that your firearm is a muzzleloader, on the type of authorisation governing their legal use. This is permitted to holders of a Section 2 [Shotgun] certificate.

However, modern-style firearms that use cartridges MUST have a Section 1[Rifled] Firearms certificate - for the purposes of legality here, the single projectile - in the form of a slug of some kind - magically transforms the shotgun into a rifle....

Britsmoothy seems to have had the misfortune of running foul of some person who clearly is ignorant of the law, but nevertheless has made life difficult for him.

Such 'anti's' are rara aves in UK, where most people know little or nothing about guns, or in some cases like think think they know that we gun-owners spend our little lives trying to figure out ways of getting around the law. Instead of this, we live in a constant state of trepidation, in case the law-makers come up with something out of the blue that 'cr*ps on our hats' while we are looking elsewhere.